'Cat' astrophe
by jayH00D
Summary: Nightwing is turned into a cat by Klarion the Witch Boy. The Batfam is not ready for an injured, sassy, cute cat Dick!


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**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**_Ages:_**

**_Nightwing- 20_**

**_Red Hood- 17_**

**_Red Robin- 15_**

**_Robin- 13_**

**Summary: What happens when Nightwing is turned into a cat? **

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"Where's Dick?" Bruce asked as he watched his sons enter the batcave on their cycles, his eldest missing from the throng.

Jason took of his helmet and held an expression that Bruce had never seen the kid wear before. Fear, confusion, and surprisingly humor all appeared on his face as he walked past him without saying a word. He quickly turned to Tim to find out what had happened from him, but the boy was avoiding all eye contact and was clearly uncomfortable with the situation. His only hope to get any information rested on Damian, which will be hard considering that he had stopped listening to anything he said considering that Richard was now his official legal guardian.

When he had returned, that was the news that had shocked him the most. Apparently while he was off world, Talia had tried to take back legal guardianship over Damian and Dick had taken her to court over it. In the end Dick won and was now Damians legal parent. So to spite him for being gone for so long. Damian only took orders from Dick and would completely ignore and disregard anything and everything he said. He had been making some progress with his biological son, but not enough for his liking.

"Damian where is Dick." He said with as much authority as he could muster without sounding like Batman. Damian moved closer to him and he noticed that there was a lump in Damian's uniform. The boy unzipped his jacket to reveal a small cat with striking blue eyes. The cats fur was black with blue stripes across its chest. The fur around the cats eyes slighy resembled the face masks that he made his sons wear while out on patrol. His gut sank lower than the Titanic as the situation now became apparent to him.

"Dick is a cat." He said baffled, (If that were even possible).

"While we were out on patrol, we ran into Klarion the witch boy and he turned Nightwing into a cat." Damian explained as he started to absentmindidly pet Dick on the head, who started purring at the contact. "Now, I gather that Grayson is tired and is in need of rest, so if you will excuse me." He said as if this weren't the most unusual thing in the world, moving towards the caves entrance to head upstairs.

"Damian, wait. I need to run some tests to see if there is any way to reverse the effects. Also, I need to see if he is injured other than his current predicament." Bruce, now in full Batman mode said. Damian looked up at him about to retort before receiving a harsh glare.

"Fine, but I'm staying with him. He is only comfortable with me holding him while in this vulnerable state. He practically almost gouged Todd's eyes out when he tried to hold him." He said with a smirk as he began walking towards the caves Med Bay to start running the proper tests. Bruce sighed heavily and followed his son.

Once he got to the med bay, he saw a sight that made his heart melt. Damian had crawled onto the medical bed with Dick still held tightly in his arms. The only difference was that Robin had grabbed a white blanket to wrap Dick in like a baby. The look on Richard's cat like face was one of pure happiness. Bruce knew how much Dick loved human contact and attention, so this was like heaven for him. To be wrapped lovingly in his little brothers arms who usually didn't like this type of attention was a gentle sight to see.

"Just no needles. Grayson hates those and since he has had a rough night I won't let him be stressed out anymore that what he already is." Damian said strictly, stroking Richard's back, making him look like those evil vilians who owned cats. Bruce grunted, but nodded his head in agreement. Sure Nightwing was a fierce opposition to Bludhaven's and Gotham's criminals, risking life and limb to protect its citizen's; but the young adult was still deathly affraid of needles. The only time he and Alfred could really give him shots or give him I.V's was when he was unconscious. (Or whenever one of his younger brothers were in the mood to physically knock him out for 'the sake of the greater good').

Bruce wouldn't claim to know much about the anatomy of cats, but he was confident in his abilities to discern a broken bone when he felt it. He was fairly certain that Dick had two broken ribs as well as a broken arm (cat forearm). He would have to consult with Alfred on how to properly reset and cast it. He would wait to do so until his son was human again, but it was a pretty nasty break, and Dick was sure to be in a lot of pain.

"Damian, I need you to go and get Alfred for me. I'll stay here with Dick." Bruce said in his Batman tone. Damian looked about to argue with him, but thought better of it. He gave Dick a soft look that said 'I'll be right back' and gently set him on the soft sheets. Bruce was a little offended that Damian hadn't actually handed Dick over to him, but didn't comment on it. Instead, when Damian was out of sight, he moved forward to grab a hold of his oldest son as gently as he could, cradling Dick in his arms.

Dick fought at first, not liking the sensation of his ribs rubbing against each other in his small body, but soon became comfortable in Bruce's arms. Bruce was sure to keep his front right leg elevated, resting it in the curve of his elbow. Dick yawned and meowed slightly, resting his head on his father's chest. He was exhausted. His fight with Klarion had lasted a long time, and when Klarion had managed to break his arm, Dick began to loose the fight. Which was how Klarion had managed to successfully turn him into his current state.

Bruce leaned back in his chair, wondering why Damian was taking so long in retrieving Alfred. Not that he minded... he was enjoying holding his son. It had been years since he had been able to do this. And although he had never held Dick like this before, the comfort that it brought both him and Dick was the same. He spared a glance to watch his son slowly drift off into sleep, his head lulling back and forth as he tried to fight it.

"Go to sleep Dick, your safe." Bruce said, hoping that his words would comfort him. Dick's shoulders relaxed considerably as he allowed himself to be taken off into what was a hopefully peaceful sleep.

Bruce couldn't blame him for being so exhausted. He couldn't imagine the feeling of being turned into a cat, and the mental stress that that brought upon the body. And then to top it off, having several broken ribs and a severely broken arm. He was surprised that Dick hadn't fallen asleep sooner, or passed out from the shock that his body had endured.

"Master Bruce." Alfred addressed as he entered the room, searching for his other charge.

"Where's Damian?" Bruce asked, noticing that his youngest wasn't present yet.

"He had sustained quite a few injuries, so after I tended to him and his brothers, I told him that it would be best to go to bed." Alfred replied. "Now, where is Master Dick, Master Damian said that he was also in need of medical attention."

"He didn't tell you did he." Bruce said more as a statement than a question. Leave it to Damian to leave out important details in favor of his own entertainment. Upon seeing his friends expression, he was certain that Alfred was not aware that Dick had been turned into a cat.

Bruce stood up, still holding the small bundle that was Dick and made his way over to Alfred. Alfred's eyes widened, which was surprising considering that Alfred had seen a lot of strand things in his life living with the clan of bats.

"Oh, my." Alfred said, taking in the scene. "So... other than his current... state, what needs to be done?"

"He had four broken ribs and his front right arm... leg... is broken. He also has a large bruise on the back of his head, but no concussion, thankfully." Bruce listed off, unsure of the proper terminology to identify on a feline. Alfred approached him to carefully examine Dick's broken appendage and clicked his tongue in sadness.

"His radius and humorous are both broken. I am afraid that even I cannot reset them while he is in this form. Our only hope is to return him to normal, so that we may begin healing him properly." Alfred said, disappointed in himself that he wouldn't be able to aid Master Dick while in this form. "But until that time, what do we do with him?" He asked skeptically.

"Keep him off his feet, and in sight. Cat Richard is going to be the same as Richard. If he gets the chance, he will move around before he is ready." Bruce said, rubbing a hand over his face. He did not like this situation whatsoever, it's hard enough to keep Dick in bed when he is injured. Now he has a smaller body and claws to evade them all. He didn't want to have to keep him sedated the whole time because he didn't know what doses would be safe to give a cats body. He already had to make sure that there were strong tranquilizers in the cave to keep him under due to his immunity to most drugs.

"Shall I prepare his room for him?" Alfred asked.

"No. He will have to stay with one of us until we can sort this out." Bruce said. "I'll take the first night and we will rotate night and day shifts for one of us to watch over him." He instructed.

Alfred was surprised that Bruce was going to take the first shift and not instantly set to work on trying to figure out how to reverse the effects. But then again, he had taken a pretty severe beating from Bane earlier this week, which was why he hadn't gone out on patrol with his sons. He had hated not being able to go in order to keep an eye out for his partners, but Dick and Tim had convinced him that it would be best if he stay at the cave. Perhaps Bruce thought that this was his fault, that if he hadn't been caught by surprise from Bane, then he would have been able to prevent this from happening to Dick.

"Of course Master Bruce. I shall take him so that you can change out of your suit." Alfred said, holding out his arms so that he could take Dick. Bruce reluctantly handed Dick over to Alfred, a little jealous that the man knew how to hold him more comfortably than he was able to. He quickly left the room to change out of his Batman suit. Sure he hadn't gone out on patrol, but he'd be damned if he wasn't in costume while his sons were risking their lives for the sake of their cities.

When he had returned to the room, he saw Alfred giving Dick a shot in the nap of his neck between his shoulder blades. Dick had been asleep, but now he was wide awake and meowing in discomfort and pain, attempting to swat the offending arm away with his uninjured arm.

"Forgive me Master Dick, but I am affraid that we cannot cast your injuries. But you shall be far more comfortable with morphine in your system." Alfred said, rocking Dick back and forth like a new born child. Dick stoped meowing and soon became comforted by the rhythm that Alfred was rocking him by. This however ended when he was handed back to Bruce.

"I shall be sure to call Leslie in the morning so that his arm and ribs can be looked at." Alfred said.

"Yes. But just don't tell Damian that you gave him a shot, or else he'll pummel us in our sleep." Bruce said rather seriously. Dick looked up sharply at Bruce then towards Alfred, upset that they had given him the shot. If Damian had been here, he wouldn't have had to have a shot in the back of the neck. He meowed angrily and glared at the two men whom he considered a Father and Grandfather. Once he was back to normal, he will deffinantly be giving them an earful.

Just because he had been turned into a cat and couldn't speak or walk for himself didn't mean that he had to be manhandled. Besides, the pain had started numbing away anyways, he didn't really need the pain medication. Bruce seemed to sense his thoughts and instantly began reprimanding his son.

"Nonsense Dick, this is the worst that your arm has ever been broken. To top it all off you are in a foreign body without the ability to communicate your level of pain or understanding. Besides, it won't be until tomorrow that you will have your arm properly casted and immobilized. This is going to be a rough night for you, so please allow Alfred and I to help you get through this." Bruce said in a calm yet strict voice, daring him to argue back. Which was absolutely ridiculous considering that he couldn't even argue back. Instead he settled for a long bout of meows that were supposed to represent a long string of extremities. Bruce eyed him critically and sighed, seeming to understand what he had said.

"And I'll have none of that language." Bruce said with a smug look on his face. Nightwing was tempted to continue cursing in cat language, but found that it would be pointless unless Bruce could actually understand him. He began making a list in his head of all the things he needed to say once he was human again. He would be sure to book an entire afternoon with Bruce and the rest of his family so that he was sure to include everyone and everything. He already had a bone to pick with Jason considering that he had threatened to skin him alive. Saying how badly he wanted to know how many ways there actually were to skin a cat.

Once Bruce saw that his son had mellowed down, he began making his way up to the manor. He bid Alfred goodnight and insisted that the Butler go straight to bed. The boys had school in the morning so he would be the only one home to look after Dick. The man would need all his strength and energy to accomplish that feat.

He silently crept through the vast hallways of Wayne Manor and made his way to the master bedroom. He carefully sat down on the bed and placed Dick on his lap and began making a comfortable pillow fortress for his son to sleep on. Not that he thought Dick would need it, but he didn't want to risk accedentally crushing Dick in his sleep. He gently layed Dick across the soft plump pillows and draped the blanket over him for comfort. Sure his cat body would be good at regulating his temperature, but he wanted Dick to be as comfortable as possible whilst his arm was still broken and not immobilized. Bruce then layed down next to him and kept his hand over Dick's back in a reassuring way. As much as he wanted to cuddle with his son, he didn't want to crush him.

Dick began purring softly at the comforting hand. It had been so long since he had slept with Bruce. Ever sense becoming Nightwing, he had moved out of the manor to live more permanently in Blúdhaven for his night and day job. He no longer wanted to need Bruce whenever the anniversary of his parents death came around and he only very rarely came to the cave for medical attention from Alfred.

Their relationship had improved sense they had been kidnapped together and tied to the same chair. They were talking civilly and he had returned to help with Wayne Enterprises every once in a while whenever Bruce was out of town. But he hadn't spent much time at the manor now that Bruce was back from being off world. He had moved back into the manor to look after and raise Damian, but now that Bruce was back, he was considering going back to his crummy appartment in Blúdhaven. But how could he... He couldn't leave Damian. Damian was his legal son now, and he loved him as a son. He would be sure to add this to the list of things needing to be discussed when he was back to human.

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The next morning Bruce woke up to an empty pillow fortress. His heart skipped a beat when he hadn't found Dick anywhere in the room and he frantically made his way down the hallway to begin looking for him. The first place he checked was Tim's room, which was closest to his. Tim wasn't in his room (which wasn't surprising considering the kid had the worst insomnia of everyone in the family... Which was saying alot). He then checked Jason's room and finnaly Damian's. None of his sons were in bed asleep, so the next place he checked was the kitchen, which was luckily where everyone had convolensed.

"Morning Bruce." Tim greated, already dressed and ready for school.

"Where's Dick?" He asked, ignoring his greeting.

"Wow, love you too Bruce." Tim shot back, rolling his eyes as he went back to the paper he was reading, sipping on what was most likely his sixth cup of coffee.

"Grayson is with Todd." Damian answered. And sure enough, Richard was drapped across Jason's shoulders, wrapping around the back of his neck. His arms and legs dangled comfortably in front of his brothers arms and he had his head resting on Jason's right shoulder. It was an odd sight, but considering Jason and Dick's relationship, it fit perfectly.

"How is he?" He said, getting straight to the point, which often annoyed his sons. But he couldn't care less at this moment. He hadn't heard anyone enter his room to take Dick, which ment that Dick had left by his own will. Nightwing was the only one of his sons who could completely escape under his radar without being caught. Tim made a close second, but after his last encounter with Ra's he had been severely injured and now had a slight almost undetectable limp on his right side. Richard's stealth was something that he prided himself on and he often purposely snuck up on him just to annoy him. His brothers had tried getting the secret out of him, but Dick had refused, not wanting them to be able to use the same trick on him and have it backfire. To Bruce's chagrin, Dick had taught them everything but the art of sneaking up on him. From sliding down the banisters like a surfer to dangling off the tallest chandelier in the manor... of which he did not appreciate.

"Grayson is alright. I heard him meowing last night and came to get him. He has been with me all morning, that is until Todd took him away from me and insisted that it was his turn." Damian said.

It was impossible for either Bruce or Batman to look puzzled, but the expression on his face came closest.

"I didn't hear Dick meowing or you comming in to get him." Bruce said, trying to wrap his head around it.

"Well considering that you haven't slept in over 72 hours, it doesn't surprise me that you slept like a dead man Bruce." Jason said smiling.

Bruce thought over the possibility and reluctantly agreed. He hadn't slept the first two nights after his run in with Bane on account of having an acute concussion and the rest of the time he was catching up on paperwork for the League and Wayne Enterprises.

"Why was he meowing? Was he in pain?" He asked Damian.

"Only a little, I crushed a pill into some salmon so he is feeling better, albeit a bit drowsy. As for the meowing, I gather that he had another nightmare." Damian reported, pouring hot water into his cup for tea.

Another nightmare? Since when had Dick been having severe nightmares again? He knew that they all suffered from nightmares, it came with the job. But for Nightwing to have such a severe nightmare to begin meowing (or crying for a cat) it worried him. He looked at his eldest who was quietly resting atop of Jason's broad shoulders, a sheepish expression grazing his features. So it had been a nightmare if Dick's expression was anything to go by.

"Alright then, well I am going to stay home with him while Alfred takes you boys to school." Bruce instructed.

"What!? No father, I am staying home with him. I refuse to go to school while Ba-Nightwing is in this vulnerable state." Damian said, quickly correcting his slip up. He had almost called Dick Batman. But what had surprised Bruce the most was that Damian had called him Father. He hadn't called him that since he returned, in fact, he used no familiar name with him, not even his first name. The action had his mind and heart doing backflips that would put Nightwing to shame. He gently smiled and nodded his head, allowing Damian to stay home from schools today. He would most likely regret it later because he had only allowed it because he called him father, when he should have said no for the obvious disrespect, but he would deal with that when the time came.

"If Demon Spawn gets to stay home, then I will too." Jason said, leaving no room for argument. Bruce sighed and nodded his head as well.

"What about you Tim?" Bruce asked.

"How about instead of going to school I go to Wayne Enterprises. I can fill in for you while you stay here with Dick. Besides, I wanted to talk to Fox about if there was any way he could develop a syrum that could reverse the effects. I'll be far more productive and helpful for Dick if I am away doing work." Tim said, causing Damian to sigh in relief, glad that he wouldn't be staying home with them. Tim heard the sigh, but ignored it considering that his reasons for not staying were the same as Damian's. As much as he loved his older brother and wanted to be with him, he feared Damian more. But luckily he had a valid excuse that wasn't offensive to stay away.

"Alright, I'll call Lucious and tell him to expect you today. While your there do you mind covering my nine O'clock meeting with the board?" Bruce asked. Tim shrugged, agreeing to take the meeting and left to go change out of his school uniform into a suit. Bruce smiled after Tim, glad that at least one of his sons had interest in taking over the business. Sure Dick was best at it, but Tim had more of an interest for it.

"Sooo?" Jason dragged out, gaining the attention of the others in the room. "Are we going to tell the others about golden boy?" He asked, motioning towards his brother who was sitting atop of his left shoulder, no longer drapped across his neck.

"By others do you mean the team, the League or the Birds of Prey?" Damian questioned back, hoping that Todd was not referring to any of them.

"Woah, woah, woah! Deffinately not the Birds of Prey, remember the time that Dick and I were de-age? They wouldn't leave us alone for days! If they saw Dickie bird like this, we would never hear the end of it... especially Barbara." Jason said in a low whisper, as if they were somehow secretly listening in on the conversation. "But I ment the League. We don't know how long Dick's going to be stuck like this and I doubt Bruce wants to be stuck at the Watchtower on duty or being called in randomly for a League mission." Jason reasoned.

"He's right. I'll contact the League right away." Bruce said as he stood up to leave, but not before grabbing a scone from the tray that Alfred had just pulled out of the oven.

"Man, I wish that I had recorded him saying that." Jason said, also grabing a scone.

Dick looked longingly at the crisp golden scones, ever so wishing that he could have one. But ever since he had been grabbed up by Damian this morning, the boy had refused to feed him anything but cat appropriate food; and scones were most definitely not on that list. However, Damian had seen the sad look on Dick's face and held up a piece of his own scone for him to take. Dick's flashed what could only be a cat like version of his famous smile. He nibbled at the scone, enjoying the warm buttery biscuit.

"Hey, hey, boy blunder! Your dropping crums all over my jacket!" Jason complained, jostling Dick a little, which caused him to fall off his pirch.

But luckily Damian had caught him without injuring his arm, his ribs however were a different story, but he didn't show it.

"Way to go Todd!" Damian yelled.

"Hey it's not my fault! You shouldn't have given him that scone! We don't know if his stomach can handle that kind of heavy butter. If he gets sick your cleaning it up!" He defended. Dick tried meowing to get them to stop fighting and saying that he was alright, but they took his meowing as a whole different meaning.

"Are you hurt Dickie?" Jason asked, looking over him critically. Dick shook his head and meowed again, cursing his life for not being able to communicate normally. But they still didn't seem to understand his pleading meows that called for peace.

"Look at what you've done Todd! Nightwing is injured and we don't know what do do about it, let alone know where he is hurting." Damian snapped.

If he had a free arm to face palm, he would have. Oh how he wished he wasn't a cat, or at least had a translator for himself until this issue was resolved. He was starting to develop a headache from their bickering and decided that the only way to gain their attention was to hiss loudly, which luckily worked. The two of them stared at him shocked, not expecting the usually calm and collected Dick Grayson to hiss at them.

"Meow meow meuw meow." Dick well... meowed, which had basically translated to 'shut the #$% up!'.

"I don't speak cat Dick." Jason said, which earned him a glare from said person. Dick looked around for anything that could possibly help him, finding Tim's laptop on the countertop.

He wiggled out of Damians hold, landing on the high countertop without any injury. He limped on three legs, keeping his right paw elevated and he used his nose to open the computer. Jason picked up on what he was doing and began pulling up a blank Word page. Dick moved in front of the monitor and used his left paw to type on the keyboard... a character at a time. It took a while, but his point had been made.

Stop arguing. Headache. Contact team, ask Con to cover training. Food:)

Dick typed out for his two brothers to read.

"Ah, right. And what should we tell the team? I mean we can't tell them that your a cat." Jason said bluntly.

Broken arm. Duh/

Jason laughed at the reply, forgetting that that was a perfect excuse to tell the team. Because once he returned, Dick will still be out of commission for a while.

Damian left to contact Young Justice while Jason made Dick a bowl of vinella ice cream, much to Dick's pleasure. He set it in front of him in a large white bowl, and he instantly began eating it. It was so much easier to lick up ice cream when your tongue was as rough as sandpaper.

"I told the team the 'situation' and when you return they will want a full explanation of what happened." Damian reported.

Thanks lil' d.

Damian snorted at seeing the response on the laptop, having read it in the same voice that Dick used when saying the nickname. They each then sat in a comfortable silence until Bruce returned, turning off his communicator as he re-entered the kitchen.

"The League had been notified, I will be down in the batcave attempting to get more information on Klarion the witch boy. Zatara said that he will zeta here soon after his round in the Watchtower and Leslie will be here at 11:00." Bruce said, turning to leave again to his office and then through the grandfather clock.

It was 10:56, so Dr. Thompson was bound to be entering the manor as they speak. Jason decided to pick up Dick and the laptop for translation to Leslie as they made there way to the front entrance to greet the family doctor.

Alfred had just opened the door up for her when she caught sight of the cat in Jason's arms. Recognizing the animals fur pattern as Nightwing. She mentally groaned... And cursed.

"What happened now?" She asked impatiently, tapping her foot.

"Klarion." Damian answered in a one word sentence. She nodded her head in understanding. "He has sustained a mild concussion, three to four broken ribs and a broken humorous and radius in his right arm." He expanded further.

"All right, lead me to his room so I may get to work. Where's Bruce?" She then asked.

"Cave" both Jason and Damian answered simultaneously.

The two teens and cat lead her to Dick's quarters, where Jason gently placed him down on the plump comforter.

The two watched as Leslie reset and wraped their brothers arm, glad that she had had veterinary training due to Damian not trusting anyone else to work on Titus, their overly large Great Dane.

"You will be able to walk on it now that it's casted, but once Bruce figures out a way to return you to normal, remove the cast and call me so I can check on it. Here is a prescription, be sure to digest it with food, you can take it now since you have already eaten." Leslie said, spoon feeding him a clear liquid medication. "But I still don't recommend going down stairs or walking great distances around the house." She instructed, packing up her bag to leave. Dick meowed a thank you and watched her leave. He was starting to feel a great deal better now that his arm was immobilized and reset, however, he was now feeling rather drowsy. He mentally cursed, she had given him a seditive. His body felt heavy and he sank down into his pillow. Both Jason and Damian noticed the change, each just deciding to lay down with him.

Who would have thought that turning into a cat would make his younger brothers snuggle with him. He would be sure to run into Klarion more often.

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Nightwing woke up in a sheet of sweat. His hair was damp and he felt a cold rag over his forehead. He sat up, feeling an odd sensation. Wait... sat up?

He looked down at himself, never feeling so happy as to see a large array of tissue scars over his gypsy tan torso. He looked farther to see his arm in a thick white cast that was resting in a sling. His chest was heavily wrapped in guaze to help heal his broken ribs. He was human again!

He attempted to sit up farther before a strong pair of hands forced him back down.

"Oh no you don't." The familiar voice of Bruce Wayne said.

"H-how?" His voice spoke, barely louder than a whisper. Bruce offered him a glass of water and helped him sit up more comfortably.

"Tim and Fox managed to synthesis an antidote. Zatara came just in case it didn't work or didn't have permanent effects. Turns out the trial was successful." Bruce said cheerfully, or at least as cheerfully as Bruce Wayne can get. "Only side affect being a high fever. 103.6 to be precise." He said, moving the cold rag back onto his forehead.

"When did all this happen? Leslie sedated me and the last thing I saw was Damian and Jason currled up in my bed." He asked.

"I told her to do that. I thought it would be best that you were not conscious during the re-transformation, the strain on your body being to much to handle. And considering your fever, I presume I was correct. But Tim brought the antidote over at 1:00, which was also when Zatara's shift ended. It took a while for your body to return back to normal... three days to be exact." Bruce told him.

Three days

"What's happened during that time?" He askes, hoping everything was ok.

"Jason patrolled Blùdhaven in your absence. I sent your team out on a mission, which M'gann lead. Alfred took a much needed vacation to visit his niece and Damian hasn't left your side until now. He needed to go back to school before he got to behind." Bruce reported with detached emotion.

He sighed with relief, nothing bad had happened. Wait... his job!

"What about my job at the BPD, did you call in or something? Because if not, Amy will stake my head outside as a warning to all officers who don't call in." Dick said quite seriously. Bruce chuckled at his sons wild imagination, and placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"I called her for you, told her that you broke your arm sliding down the north wing banister." Bruce told him.

Dick smiled at that particular excuse. He rarely ever went down the north stairwell banister, it was a three story spiral staircase that was made of metal railing with marble tiles. When he had first come to live here, he had learned to not carelessly go down that particular stairwell. He had broken his leg the first time he slid down it, but that still wouldn't stop him from going down it.

"Thanks Bruce." He said, stopping an oncoming yawn.

"Get some sleep Dickie." Bruce ordered gently, standing up to leave.

"Wait, Bruce. We have to discuss something." He said before Bruce could leave.

"This is about Damian isn't it?" Bruce replied knowingly. "And about your place and position in the manor and Wayne Enterprises." He continued listing. Dick smiled sheepishly.

"If your worried that I'm upset or jeleous about you adopting Damian, don't be. When he first came to the manor, I didn't want him. I didn't know how to connect with him like I did with you and your brothers. Because he was Talia's son and Ras's grandson, I didn't know how I would keep him under control. From the beginning, I set our relationship up for failure. I wasn't the father that he needed, nor the Batman that Robin needed. But you were... you are." Bruce said, flashing a rare smile.

Dick's heart felt that it was about to explode. He couldn't find the words to respond to that type of praise. He was so scared that Bruce would try to take Damian away from him (which he could because Damian was his biological), then kick him out of the manor. Bruce was already upset with him for becoming a police officer and for taking up the cowl in his absence, but he assumed that this was the icing on the cake. Sure their relationship had improved, but that was before Bruce had learned that he had adopted Damian. He felt hot tears pour down his cheeks, he was speechless. He quickly rubbed them away, hoping that Bruce hadn't seen them. Luckily it was still dark in the room, but Bruce had still seen them.

"Oh, chum. Did you really think that I would kick you out for this?" Bruce asked baffled.

"I know, stupid right." Dick admitted, continuing to wipe his tears.

"You are always welcome here, Wayne Manor is your home. And I understand that if you want to go back to Blùdhaven, you can do so without feeling kicked out. But I do hope that you will consider staying." He offered.

"Can't, Gotham is two hours away from Blùdhaven. That will be hard to do with work and all. I've already tried cheating the system by using the zeta tubes to get to Blùdhaven, and while that works out well for Nightwing, it doesn't for Officer Grayson." Dick explained.

"But?" Bruce coaxed, knowing that there was more to it.

"Well what about Damian!? I can't just abandon him and move back to Blùdhaven! But I also can't just go and quit my job, I've been working there for two years now and have already rid of most of the corrupt cops. I can't end this right now, but I can't leave Damian. And I highly doubt that he would want to live in Blúdhaven with me. Furthermore, I doubt you would even let him move to Blùdhaven with me." Dick ranted. Bruce considered his words, overwhelmed by all that was stresing his son out. He vaguely wondered if this is what his nightmares were the root of.

"How about a compromise. You live in Blúdhaven during week days and come home for the weekend. I'll compensate you for the gas." Bruce offered, then thought over it some more. "Or, you can just accept that it is ok to use your trustfund. It is your money, set aside for you. I wish you would just use it." Bruce said jokingly.

"I didn't use it because it was still your money, and I was trying to figure things out on my own." Dick countered.

"Yes, but we both know what the salary for a beat cop pays. Just use the trustfund, you've been filling in for me at Wayne Enterprises, you deserve the money that you earn." Bruce shot back.

"Alright, alright, I'll use the money. Just don't expect me to go crazy with it, like buying a new appartment or anything like that. As much as I appreciate it, I still want to be my sole income provider." Dick said.

"Deal." Bruce said quickly, knowing that that was as far as he was going to get on the subject. "Now get some sleep." He then said, pulling up the blankets and tucking them under his chin like he did when he was younger.

"G'night, love you." Richard said, closing his eyes.

"Technically 'good afternoon', but I love you too Dickie. And I am so proud of you and greatful for what you have done for your brothers. Your parents would be proud." Bruce said as he closed the door to allow Dick to sleep.

He layed in bed, thinking over Bruce's words. Never had the man ever shown such emotions, or have said so much praise. Dick allowed himself to relish in the moment, knowing that it would be another couple of months before Bruce complemented him again.

* * *

**_The end..._**

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